Airbus technology head Eremenko leaves to join rival UTC

Airbus’ technology head Paul Eremenko will leave to join rival United Technologies, both groups said on Thursday – a blow to Airbus as the idea tries to overhaul its strategy as well as win back business by Boeing.

The announcement came two as well as a half years after Eremenko was hired by Google as well as told to foster innovation as well as import radical thinking by Silicon Valley. Airbus has long said in which digital technology will change the way aircraft are made.

He headed Airbus’ Silicon Valley outpost as well as rose quickly to become Chief Technology Officer of the whole group in June, 2016 at the age of 36.

although insiders say the outspoken executive clashed with the technical leadership at Airbus, notably former chief engineer Charles Champion, as well as came to represent a U.S. vanguard viewed with suspicion by some in Europe’s largest aerospace group.

One source told Reuters in which Eremenko was leaving for “personal reasons”.

“Paul is actually a transformative leader with deep experience in aerospace as well as commercial technologies, as well as a record of disruptive innovation,” UTC Chairman as well as Chief Executive Greg Hayes said in a statement.

Airbus said its digital transformation officer, Marc Fontaine, could serve as acting CTO as well as a replacement could be announced within the near future.

“Airbus will continue to pursue the directions Paul pioneered to generate greater value in our processes, products as well as services, as well as ultimately for our customers,” Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said in a statement.

Airbus’ trade union officials told Reuters they were not surprised by the news of Eremenko’s departure, saying some of his decisions had angered staff.

The union officials blamed Eremenko for shutting down a site in Suresnes, near Paris, as he sought to modernize Airbus’ research as well as engineering practices.

“in which truly upset a lot of the teams,” said Francoise Vallin of Airbus’ CFE-CGC trade union, whose views on Eremenko’s unpopularity were echoed by Didier Hacquart by the CFDT union.

This specific week, Airbus hired the head of Rolls-Royce’s civil engines arm, Eric Schulz, lead its commercial aircraft sales, after months of uncertainty over who could replace veteran dealmaker John Leahy.

Although Leahy signed off that has a record deal at the Dubai Airshow This specific month, Schulz will inherit a Toulouse sales organization unsettled by additional defeats as well as seeking stability amid UK as well as French corruption investigations into commercial jet sales.